Flavobacterium naphthae sp. nov., isolated from oil-contaminated soil.

During a study of petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, a yellow-coloured, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain Brt-MT , was isolated from oil-contaminated soil of Biratnagar, Morang, Nepal. Strain Brt-MT was able to grow at 15-45 °C, pH 5.0-9.0 and 0-1 % (w/v) NaCl concentration. The strain was characterized by multiple taxonomic approaches. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain Brt-MT belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and shared highest sequence similarity with Flavobacterium cloacae wh15T (95.69 %) and Flavobacterium anatoliense MK3T (94.91 %). The only respiratory quinone was MK-6; the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine; and the predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, summed feature 9 (iso-C17 : 1ω9c and/or C16 : 010-methyl), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c). The DNA G+C content was 37.2 mol%. The morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses clearly distinguished this strain from its closest phylogenetic neighbours. Thus, strain Brt-MT represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacteriumnaphthae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Brt-MT (=KEMB 9005-692T =KACC 19393T =JCM 32171T ).